Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Availability
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Author:

Joan Szechtman’s interest in the 15th century monarch Richard III, originally prompted by reading Sharon Kay Penman’s novel The Sunne in Splendour, led her to try her hand at writing, with Richard III as a major character in both her novels. For more, visit Szechman’s website.

Description:

Loyalty Binds Me is a sequel to This Time. In the first book, a group of scientists with a time travel device transport Richard III, the former British Monarch, to contemporary times. He eventually adjusts and settles into his new life and family: a wife, two stepdaughters, and his son Edward (also transported into this century in the last book). Loyalty Binds Me picks up a year after the last novel ended, when Richard III and his family travel to England, where he is arrested for a 500 year-old murder.

Appraisal:

The first book of this series was mostly about Richard III adapting to life in this century. While the action took place in contemporary times, it integrated historical facts and, in the case of much of what Shakespeare has many believing, corrected historical fiction.

In Loyalty Binds Me, the subtle historical teaching is still taking place, but the plot is closer to a thriller than the science fiction mixed with history tutorial the first time out. The characters had me emotionally invested even more than I might have been, because they were old friends from reading This Time. That helped draw me into the thriller portion of the plot. Szechtman does an excellent job of integrating the historical with the contemporary, including some strange twists, with Richard III’s arrest for lawbreaking alleged to have happened five hundred years previously. I liked the story, the “big picture,” of Loyalty Binds Me, but what I liked even more is in the details.

As I’m reading a book for review I’ll highlight errors of the kind that should have been caught during the copyediting and proofing process. I’ll also highlight and make notes about things that jump out at me as especially good or bad. When I reviewed my notes from Loyalty Binds Me I had exactly one “typo” type error I’d caught, a “you” that I thought should have been a “your.” The rest of the notes were about something Szechtman got right that very few Indie authors seem to pull off. That is getting the language right when there is a mix of characters who would speak different flavors of English. The best example is comparing Sarah (Richard III’s wife) who is American and says, “she probably would be in the hospital there” while an English character asks, “do you know why she’s in hospital.” This is a subtle usage difference between English and American speakers. Szechtman also recognized that Richard would have to cross a lane of traffic to make a right hand turn. It’s possible I might have missed something since my native language, as Szechtman’s, is American English, but I spotted enough instances that could have easily been wrong to be confident there are few, if any. Inattention to these little things can jar a reader out of a story. When done right it makes for a smooth and pleasant read.

FYI:

Although a sequel to her book This Time, Szechtman reviews what happened in the first book in enough detail near the beginning of Loyalty Binds Me, so that reading the first book is not a requirement to understand the needed back-story for this one. Those who are reading the books back to back might feel it reviews too thoroughly, but anyone new to the series or with a long break between reading the books will be thankful.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Availability
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Author:

A native of Kentucky, Linda Prather works as a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, where she helps those with terminal illnesses control pain. She has three other books available. Two, The Gifts and its prequel, Sacred Secrets, are in her Jacody Ives Mysteries series. The third, Food to Die Smiling For, is a collection of short fiction (both short stories and flash fiction) combined with recipes.

Psychic Catherine Mans works as a consultant for the local police department. Her ability to see and hear what others can’t has helped solve several crimes. Nine murders with connections to Catherine’s past put her at the top of the FBI’s suspect list. Then the killer starts targeting people even closer to her. Can Catherine find the killer before everyone she cares about is murdered?

Bet you can’t … FIND ME contains mystery layered upon mystery. There are the obvious questions about the main story thread, the identity of the serial killer that is murdering people close to the protagonist, Catherine, and making it look like she is involved. For the first part of the book, Catherine is also mysterious, as her secret past slowly comes into focus to the reader, other characters, and in some ways, even to Catherine. Last, some of the major players among the supporting cast have their own little mysteries, with questions of motivation and allegiance to unravel.

Catherine is the kind of character who is easy to like. As her past is revealed, she becomes more so, as the reader gains sympathy and respect for her resilience. It appears this will be the first of a series. The other supporting characters who are obvious choices to continue in the series are complex and should enhance the story, as they did here. Sometimes the first installment of a series devotes too much time to establishing the characters and not enough on the current story. Bet you can’t … has a different problem, setting the storytelling bar so high that it will be a challenge to beat it next time out.

Your college education was in English with a concentration on writing. You’ve worked as a journalist and editor for magazines, and in public relations, which requires communication skills in many areas, including writing. Have you ever had a job that didn’t involve writing and, if so, how do you think that experience has helped you as an author?

I’ve been very lucky to have been able to make a living as a writer for all of my adult life. Of course, that meant writing press releases for a clown college and even a restaurant menu occasionally, but you take whatever jobs you can get, right?

I did take a couple of years off to be a stay-at-home mom when I was pregnant with my second son, but that didn’t last very long, and I ended up writing A Whisper to a Scream during that time. Becoming a mother changed me as a writer in ways I never anticipated. I am much better at understanding situations from multiple viewpoints, which is crucial for fiction.

My summer jobs during high school and college included a park district recreation leader, a grocery bagger, a stringer for the local newspaper, and a preschool assistant. I even worked in a neighborhood fast-food joint, slinging hot dogs. That was the toughest of all, especially during the humid Chicago summers with temperatures over 90. I would come home, jeans soaked with grease from the fryer, completely overheated and exhausted. I like to think of those days as “character building.”

What do you like to do when you aren’t writing?

I like to cook, watch Chopped (I confess, I am a foodie) and Downton Abbey (who doesn’t love English period pieces?), go to the theater and movies, play board games and even the occasional video game with my sons. I find shooting stormtroopers during Star Wars: Battlefront to be particularly fulfilling. The kids have moved onto other games, but I remain true to this one, in which you can kill something without blood or guts splattering all over the screen. I am a wuss when it comes to gore.

When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?

I have been writing little stories here and there ever since I can remember, but originally I thought I was going to be a singer. Music played a big part in my life growing up, singing in multiple choirs, doing community variety shows and various theater productions. But then I started working on my high school newspaper. The thrill of the deadline! So many stories to tell! I was hooked.

A Whisper to a Scream is your first novel. Did you always want to write fiction? Is this your first published fiction?

Yes, I dreamed of writing fiction since penning my first story, The Car, when I was seven. Though wonderfully illustrated in crayon (or so I thought), it sold only one copy (to my parents). I still have it in a drawer somewhere. I had a short story of mine published in my college’s literary magazine, but, other than that, all of my publishing credits are in magazines or newspapers.

Although we have many authors who follow Books and Pals, these interviews are primarily for readers (and the reader that is in every writer). I want to focus on the author and their books, not the writing process in these interviews. However, due to your editing background, I can’t resist asking you a few author-centric questions. First, what was the process you went through in editing your book? Did you have outside help?

Once the book’s story was completed, the plot flushed out, and each scene written and rewritten five times or more, it was time for full manuscript editing.

The first reading is like continuity editing for a film. Does the book work? Do you like it? Does everything make sense? Double check the locations, that the character names stay consistent, especially with minor characters.

Then comes editing for stylistic things, like grammar, punctuation, removing the passive voice, and tightening up the prose.

Third time through is proofreading. Check red-flag words, such as the twenty-five most commonly misspelled words, homophones, and various other things spell checker does not catch. Double check place names are spelled correctly.

After I was sure it was in good shape, I handed it over to two of my former English professors who both also gave it a once-over.

Do you think it is possible for Indie authors to create a quality product entirely on their own?

No, I do not think it is possible for anyone to edit themselves simply because you become too familiar with your own words and glaze over mistakes, no matter who you are. It is a lot easier to edit someone else’s work than your own.

Every indie author owes it to readers to get his or her work professionally edited. If you don’t have the money, bribe an English major friend with chocolate or Starbucks. It always works.

I’m guessing like most authors, you’re also an avid reader. What are your favorite books?

Absolutely. My all-time favorite novel is Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen is a master of witty dialogue and analyzing the society around her. As for contemporary authors, Anne Tyler and Maeve Binchy are my favorites. I’ve been genre hopping lately, from historical fiction to chick lit to short story anthologies. It’s been great fun.

Are there any books by your fellow Indies you would recommend?

I absolutely loved Helen Smith’s Alison Wonderland. She started out as an indie (at least in the States), then was signed with Amazon Encore. Alison Wonderland is this fantastic, bizarre British novel. It’s really quite excellent.

Another great indie author is Karen Cantwell, who writes the Barbara Marr series, which are part mystery, part comedy. Take the Monkeys and Run has the same feel as a Lucy and Ethel caper. Hilarious.

Getting back to your book, A Whisper to a Scream focuses on two ladies, Annie and Sarah. Each is unhappy and wants what the other has. What was your inspiration for this story?

A very vivid dream I could not shake became Annie's plot of a PR executive dealing with a diagnosis of unexplained infertility. A few days later, the idea of an overwhelmed stay-at-home mom (Sarah) came to me in the shower, probably because it was the only time I had two minutes to myself since my kids were very young at the time.

So, I had poor Sarah and a traumatized Annie, and I thought, what if I put them together? Being a bibliophile myself, what better place for them to meet but a classics book club?

Had you tried publishing your novel traditionally before you went Indie? What kind of responses did you receive and what was that experience like? What was your rationale when you decided to go Indie?

I did try the traditional route originally, shopping Whisper around for two, almost three years. I kept getting comments from agents like “Great story. Relatable. Love the characters. Don’t know if I can sell it.” Well, isn’t that your job? So, I thought, what the heck, I’m going to do it myself. I believed in this story and knew it would resonate, since a good portion of women are either mothers like Sarah or wanting children like Annie.

Do you have a favorite character in your book? Why?

Of course, I love both Sarah and Annie, but I think my favorite is Edwina Hipplewhite, the former high school English teacher who moderates the Bibliophiles’ book club meetings. She’s just wacky enough to be wise.

This is the first book of a series. What are your plans for the series and when can we start looking for the next book?

Each of the book club members gets a chance to star in one of the Bibliophiles novels. For example, Whisper is the story of Sarah and Annie’s friendship, while Thaddeus and Spring will take center stage for the third. The storyline of the book club meetings is furthered throughout.

My second book is Catherine Elbert’s journey bouncing from coast to coast in search of her true self. It will be called Until My Soul Gets It Right and released in the spring.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Availability
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Author:

A native New Yorker, Justin Smith now lives in a suburb of Philadelphia with his wife and three cats. By day, he is a professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at Drexel University.

Description:

“Raised by slum-dwelling alcoholics, an autistic teen struggles to complete college and woo a handicapped girl—with bittersweet results.”

Appraisal:

Autism can take several forms. Ernest, the protagonist, is Rainman-ish in his math skills, but, as is common among many, lacking in social skills. His social skills aren’t up to par because of an inability to notice the cues and clues that most of us use to gauge how other people feel, accompanied by an inability to empathize.

This brings up an interesting question. What would someone who was autistic in the same way as Ernest think of the book? It was my ability to empathize with Ernest that drew me into the story. Understanding other people can be a challenge for all of us at times. It is even harder for Ernest, given his dysfunctional family and the lack of good role models to emulate. Although a budding romance is one of the main story threads, Eye of a Fly is much more than that.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Availability
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Author:

A British author and screenwriter of Anglo-Greek descent, Stel Pavlou has an additional novel, Decipher, available for your Kindle and a short story, The Strange Case of Jared Spoon Who Went to Pieces for Love.

For more, visit his blog. (Do not click on the button that says “do not press this button.” I did immediately upon seeing it and may never recover.)

Description:

Gene is published in the UK by Simon & Schuster. Pavlou self-published in North America. I am reviewing based on the self-published US edition.

“Part contemporary, hard-boiled detective story and part historical epic, Gene is a modern myth. A tale of two mortal enemies reincarnated multiple times over the course of 3,000 years. From New York, to Byzantium, from ancient Rome to the palace of Knossos and the Trojan War. Locked in an endless cycle of revenge for an act of war whose victims have long since turned to dust.”

Appraisal:

Although published by a major publisher in the UK, Gene “scared off a lot of editors in the US.” After reading it, the reasons are clear. It wasn’t for lack of a good story, nor was it for lack of a good reason. In short, the editors had no idea in which section of the bookstore Gene belonged. If a bookstore can’t shelve a book correctly, they can’t expect to sell it. Pavlou’s solution was to skip both the publisher and the bookstore to give interested readers in the US a chance to find his book on their own.

If forced to boil it down to the essence, I would describe Gene as part police procedural and part fantasy, with elements of mythology, science fiction and history thrown in. There is a mystery to be solved and risk for a main character if it isn’t solved soon, which also makes it a thriller.

I can see how this could scare a reader off. Someone who dislikes any of these genres might feel that Gene isn’t right for them. But if you’re interested in being taken out of your genre-comfort-zone, you might find that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

A small number of typo and proofing errors. Most were instances of separated compound words; “for ever” instead of “forever” was the biggest culprit. These issues might have been introduced during conversion, especially if OCR was used in converting from the UK edition to the US edition I read. I also thought this book could have benefited from a blank line or other indicator of scene changes. There was an indicator present when changing to contemporary time, but not when changing back. I suspect these were present in the original paper book and possibly in the UK Kindle edition published by Simon & Schuster.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Availability
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Author:

Although she has a website, finding biographical information about Kavita Nalawde proved problematic beyond some minimal facts. This is her first novel. She is married and has at least one child, possibly a recent development. Although it appears Nalawde is of Indian descent, she currently lives in the UK. Maybe you’ll find more than I did if you visit her website.

Description:

Set in India, Coffee @ 4:00 is the story of three friends, Ria, Geeta, and Ryan, who meet each Thursday afternoon for coffee, talk, and advice about love and life.

Appraisal:

No book is all bad. Even the best has ways it might be improved. I’ll get the good out of the way upfront. Almost all of the words were spelled correctly. The story concept is a good one, and the glimpses I got of Indian culture and tradition added spice, and were something I’d like to have seen more of. There were glimmers of potential. I think the chances are good that, given enough time and practice, the author has some good books in her. But she has a long way to go.

I won’t attempt to be comprehensive in describing the issues I found, but will give a few of the heavy hitters. Some of the examples given may have other problems beyond what I mention.

My first issue is that the syntax of sentences often seemed mangled, with words seeming out of order. Often it feels like a word doesn’t belong (“…had seen so much of trouble …”) or that a word is missing (“her effort had not gone waste”). Yet other times the word seems wrong: “… kept the phone down” instead of “laid” or “put [it] down” when a character is ending a call. It occurred to me that perhaps differences in English as it is spoken and written in India might account for some of this perception and, keeping in mind the post I’d done on regional language differences, I tried to cut Nalawde some slack. But this happened even with colloquialisms; for example, referring to a precise time as “dot at 2:00” and “sharp 2:00.” There were too many issues with basic grammar, perhaps because English is a second language. Improper verb tense, using the singular where a plural was appropriate (also the reverse), and homonym errors were a few of the additional grammar problems I found. A copy editor could fix these issues, but there are other, more serious problems.

Clichés abound. “Their life was never the same,” “broke into a thousand pieces,” and “with two paths ahead of her” are a sampling of some I spotted. The road less traveled didn’t see much traffic in this story.

However, the biggest problem of all is captured in the old writer’s saw that says “show, don’t tell.” I believe this is an overused and often misunderstood critique. Showing everything can make a story drag. Sometimes summarizing what happened or describing how a character feels rather than demonstrating it through action and dialogue is best. But usually, especially when what is happening is critical to the story, showing is preferred.

This issue was obvious from the first paragraph, with the novel starting with an “info dump.” An info dump is giving a large amount of back-story, in this case pages and pages, as a narrative, with little in the way of action or dialogue. Just the facts M a’am is right for nonfiction, but too much at a stretch in fiction bogs the story down. When it happens at the beginning of the story, before readers have a chance to get drawn in, it is a foolproof way to insure that many will abandon a book before the end of the first chapter.

However, the urge to tell didn’t end after the info dump. It permeated the book. For example, “Pam had become very emotional recollecting this story and Ryan gave her a hug.” Don’t tell us Pam became emotional. Show us some tears. Have Pam’s voice crack. Or in this instance, have faith in your writing. This sentence followed several paragraphs in which Pam related a story about her son that was obviously an emotional experience for her. If the reader doesn’t understand this is going to make Pam emotional, her telling of the story needs work.

Another example is when Ria suggested a family vacation to her husband Sunil, an idea he rejected. He left for work and in the next scene Ria stumbled on evidence that Sunil was taking a vacation without her and the kids. Ria thinks, “Just this morning she had suggested going to a resort somewhere outside Mumbai and Sunil had straightaway rejected the idea.” This might not qualify as telling; Ria thinks it, but as the narrator of this section it might. What is certain is that there is no reason for saying this. The reader already knows. This barely happened. We’re smart enough to realize Ria is also making the connection. Show her reaction; explaining why she reacts that way is redundant.

I could continue, but think it best if I don’t. Coffee @ 4:00 isn’t ready for prime time.

FYI:

Very small amount of adult language. Some adult situations.

The author used UK spelling conventions. Because this story is set in India, some terms may not be familiar. Many were in the Kindle dictionary and virtually all were understandable enough from the context.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant typos; however, there were many language usage and grammar problems, discussed in more detail in the appraisal section.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Availability
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Author:

A native of England, Simon Royle has worked as an executive in advertising and as a senior manager in software companies. He lives with his family in Bangkok. For more, visit his website or his blog.

Royle also maintains The Indie View, a website aimed at Indie readers, with “Indie Views” (interviews) of Indie authors and reviewers of Indie books. Another feature of the site is an index of the latest reviews of Indie books from many of the web’s top review sites.

Description:

March 15, 2110 is cull day. The day a sinister plot put in motion by a group of the world’s elites will culminate. 6.3 million of the 9 million people in the United Nation (Earth, Mars, and the Moon), will die. When Jonah Oliver, an arbitrator (the new term for lawyer), discovers his past isn’t as he remembers and stumbles onto the plot, it is a race against time to save the people of the world.

Appraisal:

My typical taste runs to thrillers. Science fiction is often a nonstarter. Combining both, Tag could have easily gone either way. It has a few of the elements that will sometimes turn me off in sci-fi. These include a lot of new technology, and new words and terms to learn.

My objection to the technology isn’t that it exists, but that it can sometimes become the story rather than assist it. This wasn’t an issue for me in Tag. The technology felt like a logical evolution from today to one hundred years into the future. It helped to define the story world, but didn’t overpower the plot, with the characters, their personalities, and how that drove their actions taking center stage, as they should.

My concern with language is that, if overdone, it can kill the flow of the story as the reader has to do an internal translation of the new words each time they see them. Royle uses many new terms. However, his word choices are easy to understand and quickly feel natural, as they often subtly reference other actual words in our vocabulary. Many are shortened words: kiloms as a measure of distance and mins for time. Dev is a generic electronic device, which combines what we would see as multiple functions in today’s world, while a devstick is a portable device. Lev is a means of a person transporting from one place to another which references both an elevator and the word levitate, with both words helping cement its use in the reader’s mind. His approach is a reminder that that the world is different, yet his choices emphasize the differences while not getting in the way due to the ease of adding them to the reader’s vocabulary.

The story is the typical thriller, with a protagonist thrust into a race against time where the price for failure is high. The futuristic setting provides a backdrop for several themes. The 1984ish theme of Big Brother, and how technology, while positive, also has negatives, especially in the area of privacy. How human nature is unchanging. That there will always be those who feel they are above everyone else and have no qualms in acting on those feelings. But I didn’t realize much of this until I had time to reflect, after the fast-paced ride to the end.

FYI:

Some adult language and situations.

Although the author is originally from the UK, it appears that he used US spelling conventions.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

This is the first of what we hope will be regular, or at least semi-regular, author interviews on Saturdays. Interested authors can find details on how to participate here.

The biography on your website covers your life from birth to being a mother and receiving a PhD in three sentences. I’m sure a lot happened during those years. Let’s start with growing up in Sweden. How do you think your life was different for you than it is for your girls growing up in New Jersey?

Life was easier for me. It was all about hanging out with my friends, recess at school, a couple of after-school activities, and getting A’s in my classes. Life is so much more competitive now. Even sports and other after-school classes are no longer “just for fun.” It’s all about being the best. I feel we put an incredible amount of stress onto our kids. In my school district, the middle-school kids don’t even get a lunch break that gives time for anything except eating! When I was a girl, Lunch was my favorite part of the school day, a time to socialize with my friends.

Growing up, were you a reader? What were some of your favorite books?

I was! I have always loved reading. As a child, I loved Enid Blyton books, and later on, Agatha Christie, P.G. Wodehouse, and George Orwell were among my favorites.

Talk about the places you lived between when you left home and before you landed in New Jersey.

I have lived in a lot of places, my absolute favorite one being London. Even though I was born in Sweden, I very much think of London as “home.” I love the cosmopolitan feel of the city, the pubs, the food, and, of course, the shopping.

Your PhD is in Immunology. Explain in simple terms what an Immunologist does.

There are many kinds of Immunologists. I am a research Immunologist. I started off my work in human monoclonal antibody production, and later specialized in the immunology of aneurysm surgery, which was the subject of my thesis.

What is your favorite book?

1984, by George Orwell.

What are your hobbies or favorite leisure activities? I mean other than shopping?

I love traveling and exploring the history of the new places. I also love going to the opera, theater, and movies.

Many think your first book was Portal, but it wasn’t. Tell us how that came to be.

I am guessing you are referring to my Hermès Lookbook? I am a collector of Hermès scarves and handbags. For many years, I ran a successful blog called The Scarfologist. It was mainly a picture blog, demonstrating the tying of scarves and discussing new collections. I chose some of the pictures from those on the blog and bound them in a book. The book was actually created after I finished writing Portal, but it was published first.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

It hit me after I had finished writing and publishing my first book, Portal. I just felt the need to continue writing the story.

Portal, the first book of the Portal Chronicles, was your first work of fiction. What led you to write it? Tell the story of how it went from an idea in your head to being available on Amazon in eBook and paper formats.

I dream stories practically every night, continuing my dreams from night to night. My imagination is a virtual soap opera. My kids have enjoyed my “little stories,” and my daughter loved that one in particular. She asked me to write it down so she could share it with her friends. It eventually turned novel-sized, and I decided to get it bound. I took the typed pages down to Staples, but decided that the binding offered was too bulky. I looked online and found Createspace. I designed my own cover and, within days, had a beautiful paperback in my hands. Createspace had an option to click Publish, and I thought, “Why not?” :D

The Portal Chronicles now has four books in the series. How many books do you have planned and when will the next of these be coming out?

There will be one final book, Fusion, which will be out in early fall of 2012.

You also have two other books, Faustine, the first book in the Bonfire Chronicles series, and Initiation, which is the first book in the Bonfire Academy Books, but is also labeled as being part of the Bonfire Chronicles. Explain how these two books are related and how you see the series developing.

I wrote Faustine first. I was inspired by a photograph of my daughter who is on the front cover. It was well received, but many wondered and asked about the instant connection between Faustine and Ryker. So, I went back in time in my imagination to Faustine’s years at the Academy, and that’s how the Bonfire Academy series was born. I have no idea how the series will develop. I don’t plan my writing, not even to the extent that I know what’s happening from page to page. All I know for the moment is that the Cordelia branch of the story that started in Initiation will continue in Integration.

Which of your books is your favorite?

I don’t think of my books as individual stories, so I can’t pick one. For me, it’s all about the characters, and they are so much a part of me and who I am that it would be impossible to pick a favorite.

Since you don’t have a favorite book, do you have a favorite character?

Cordelia is dominant in my imagination, and she was born from the very core of my own personality, so I feel closest to her.

Your fiction writing has primarily been aimed at the young adult audience, but you had a piece of fiction that was included as one of the bonus stories in Michael Crane’s Lessons III: Demonic Dolls and Other Morbid Drabbles, which is a collection of short horror pieces. How did that come about?

Trying to write a hundred-word horror drabble, a specialty of Mike’s, was a fun exercise in which I failed at miserably. But he was kind enough to include it in his book anyway.

Although all of your books have been self-published, you’ve explored different options and worked with some agents. What can you tell us about these experiences? Where would you like to take your career as an author?

I’d like to be able to reach as wide an audience as possible. Maybe have my books be a Blue-Light special at K-Mart. :D

Friday, February 17, 2012

Availability
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Author:

Although originally from upstate New York, Alessa Adamo has lived in Northern California for forty years. She has spent time in the US Air Force, worked as a real estate broker, and now works for a small non-profit that teaches disaster preparedness. Alessa and her partner currently live in the San Francisco Bay area. For more, visit Adamo’s website.

Description:

Melissa Adams and her same-sex partner are flying to Bangkok where they plan to vacation with Amy, Melissa’s estranged daughter. When things start to go wrong, they go very wrong. Soon everything in Melissa’s life seems out of control.

Appraisal:

It seems the aspects of a book that stick most with me are often not the plot, but the characters. That is the case with Night Flight. The plot is suspenseful and full of drama, in every sense of that word. But it is the characters and how they reacted to the events depicted that floated through my thoughts between reading sessions and after closing the virtual covers for the last time.

In the beginning, I wasn’t sure how I would react or relate to a story where the two primary characters were two women in a romantic relationship. Would it be voyeuristic, in the same way female-on-female porn appeals to some straight men? Would I find it revolting or difficult to relate, because it is so different from my own experiences? The answer to both of these, for me, was a resounding no. While there are a few mild sex scenes, it didn’t feel voyeuristic, at least no more so than a comparable scene with a straight couple. It wasn’t revolting. And relating to the characters was easy, with enough parallels to my own experiences to understand, yet enough differences to be intriguing and feel like I received new insights into human nature. It turns out we’re more the same than different.

FYI:

Adult language and situations.

Format/Typo Issues:

A small number of typo and proofing errors. Most of these were homonym errors: using isle (a small island) instead of aisle (an area for walking) along with the classic your/you’re problem were two that were repetitive.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

This post is going to discuss several different subjects related to the world of the eReader. While at first glance they seem unrelated, they really aren’t.

“If the book was any good a publisher would have picked it up.”

If you haven’t seen or heard anything like this in reference to an Indie book, you are either new to the Indie book world or you haven’t been listening. This attitude is based on the assumption that a publishing house decides whether to offer a publishing contract based on the quality of a book. Good, “sign here;” bad, “no thanks.” If only anything in life was this simple.

Readers and publishers have different goals. Decision makers at a publishing house may look at many factors before giving a thumbs up or down, but the ultimate question is whether a book will make them money. Quality is often in the eye of the beholder, but only the most diehard Jersey Girl would point to Snooki’s book as an example of quality in literature (the average Amazon reviewer gives it three stars). However, the publisher had reason to believe it would make them a profit, and it probably has. If you’re a fan of an out-of-favor genre, say the western or any genre that doesn’t typically have paranormal creatures, you might feel underserved, but the publishers may not see the market for these selections as being large enough. An author might be the Zane Grey of his generation, but, chances are, nothing is going to get him a publishing contract.

Then you have the tastes of the individuals making the decisions at the publishers’. There are questions of capacity; not every book with potential can be published, and the infrastructure each publisher has in place can only accommodate a finite number of books each season.

None of this means that there aren’t bad Indie books, even horrible ones. Those are out there, and the percentages of these are higher amongst Indie books than amongst those traditionally published.

However, for anyone who persists in believing that, if a book is good enough, it will find a home, I think you’re kidding yourself. For evidence, I present this blog post. Read it and come back.

Yes, this book finally found a home at a publisher. Had the author or her agent given up (and they had every reason to do so), it wouldn’t have been. Note the positive reactions received prior to release and then the feedback, often contradictory, received from the many publishers who rejected it.

“There is a lot of crap out there.”

Yes, there is. In this section, I’m going to talk about one specific kind. I’ll use the same term as was used by the person who brought it to my attention and call it a “scam.” It definitely scams any reader who buys the “book,” and may have a negative effect on a legitimate author.

All of these book are partially (probably almost completely) excerpts of Wikipedia articles on a particular subject formatted and published as a book, either an eBook or a paper book. These books don’t violate any copyright law, because Wikipedia uses a “creative commons” license, which allows this if properly attributed. Those instances I’ve seen so far have always mentioned in the description that the book is primarily Wikipedia articles and are all non-fiction, although this might not always be clear. A little due diligence up front will prevent you from being taken in.

These scams have two variations that I’ve seen. The one I first saw is the mysterious case of Ira Krakow, “author” extraordinaire. <link to author search on Amazon> As I’m writing this, Mr. Krakow has 128 “books” available on Amazon, some co-written by Dr. Samuel Krakow (brother, son, or long dead grandfather?). Most are priced between $2.99 and $4.99. All appear to be participants in the KDP Select program, which means they are eligible for borrowing from the Kindle Lending Library. They will sometimes show up on the list of free books, which serves to bump them up on the various bestseller lists. I suspect there are others, just like Mr. Krakow, following this pattern. If you’re interested in sampling one of Krakow’s books, I might suggest The Story of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

I’ll illustrate a variation using the example of Rashi’s Daughters, available in paper form from Barnes & Noble. The price, while high, isn’t out of line for many legitimate non-fiction books on specialized subjects. The description and even a sticker on the front of the pictured cover make it clear where the contents came from. In this case, the title is shared by a legitimate work of historical fiction, also available from B&N, which could cause confusion and lost sales of the other book.

There is a theory, as yet unproven, that this may actually be a money laundering operation. Apparently, Amazon has banned this and other related publishers for not including the Wikipedia citation as well as publishing copyrighted material. If you’re interested in more on this, start with this article or this one, which talks about the money laundering potential with this variation of the scam using higher priced books.

“How do I wade through this crap?”

With so many more books to choose from and no sign of a slowdown, naysayers seem to think they won’t be able to separate the wheat from the chaff. I’ve seen many answers to this question. One of my favorites is author J.A. Konrath’s response, which is that people don’t seem to have any problems finding the best videos on Youtube. His point, as I see it, is twofold.

First, there have always been more books available than anyone could ever read. Yet we’ve always managed to make our picks. Some grab whatever jumps out at them from the racks at the grocery store or in the pyramids just inside the door of the bookstore. Those people can go to the Kindle or Nook homepages and have their choices narrowed to the same basic selections for them. Those who used The New York Review of Books or one of the many bestseller lists still have those options available. Word of mouth is still the most powerful and, I suspect, most common, and this still works.

Second, is that new methods to zero in on books you might like keep appearing. Many of these I view as an extension of word of mouth. I see Books and Pals and similar blogs this way. Simon Royle’s website, The Indie View, has an index of reviews from several different blogs. Sites like Goodreads and Library Thing are other examples. Amazon’s various recommendation algorithms are part of the answer. The latest tool I’ve become aware of is a new site calledYasiv. This site takes data based on Amazon’s recommendation engines and aggregates it in a visual display. On the blog associated with the site, examples show how this can be used to find the best books on a specific non-fiction subject. This same technique can find books you might enjoy based on another similar book that you liked.

You really think these are related?

Yes, I do. What do you think (on the individual subjects and whether they relate to each other)?

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Availability
Kindle US:YESUK:YESNook:YESSmashwords:YESPaper: NO Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Richardson has a novel, Magdeburg, available only in paper versions, published by Lagan Press, an Irish publisher.

Description:

A collection of previously released short stories.

Appraisal:

Five short stories. All are dark, but in different ways. Chilled, from which the collection takes its name, is a little out there – something you hope isn’t real – not unlike the horror genre. Others, [BEAT] (which considers choices not made) and Liberation, consider the dark side of the world and life that are all too real. A quick read with well done stories that were a nice change of pace from my recent reading fare.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Availability
Kindle US:YESUK:YESNook: NO Smashwords: NO Paper: NO Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

A former hospital worker, M.A. Golla escaped that boring job for a life as a writer. In addition to this book and a sequel (The Fast and the FAERIEous), both part of The Goblin’s Apprentice series, Golla has also written two shorter works featuring Kyte Webber, the protagonist of this series. For more, visit Golla’s blog, cleverly titled Gnome de Plume.

Description:

When you live miles outside of a town called Nowhere, excitement is hard to find. At least that is how eleven-year-old Kyte Webber feels. She’s afraid the highlight of her summer will be searching for the garden gnome that has disappeared from her backyard. Finding the gnome (named Rory, we discover), sets off more adventure than Kyte had bargained for.

Appraisal:

Kids in the age range targeted for middle grade books such as this have great imaginations. They may not talk about their imaginary friends as much as they once did and recognize that super heroes don’t really have super powers, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still letting their imaginations run wild.

To Gnome Me is to Love Me has a plethora of paranormal creatures to fuel the imagination of your middle-grader, just like in many of the books their older siblings are probably reading, but these characters are mostly friendly. The one evil-ish character, while scary, especially in the climactic scene, is no more so than those in the many fairy tales they first heard half their lifetimes ago. Protagonist Kyte’s age and maturity is at the sweet spot for the target age (roughly nine to twelve-ish), so younger readers will look up to her and those on the higher end will relate well.

The story in To Gnome Me … does a great job of establishing what I believe will be continuing characters in the series, with plenty being left to explore as the series continues, yet doesn’t leave the reader feeling cheated out of a good story the first time around. Hopefully, your middle grader has their own Kindle, or yours might not be returned anytime soon.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

The Director of Creative Writing at Southwest Minnesota State University, Anthony Neil Smith has three other novels available. He is the publisher of the online noir zine Plots with Guns, and has had his short stories included in several publications and anthologies. For more, visit Smith’s blog.

Description:

Mick Throoft is a professor at a small private college in Minneapolis. He is a sensitive poet with an extreme case of “Minnesota nice.” Mick’s reserve is more than offset by the Machiavellian evil of Olivia, his longtime, platonic-girl-pal. When Mick’s wife files for divorce and tries taking advantage of Mick’s non-confrontational nature, Olivia cajoles him into putting up a fight.

Appraisal:

Describing Choke on Your Lies as crime fiction or noir is misleading. There are crimes committed and the story isn’t a true one. There is plenty of darkness in some of the characters, their actions, and the story surrounding them; so both descriptions are accurate. Yet there is much more going on, with many aspects of a psychological thriller, but without as much mystery as you would expect in that genre. The climax is neat (in that it ties up those things that need to be), yet neither pretty (in human terms) nor what I expected. However, it is a satisfying ending.

I also found a couple of things among the details of Choke on Your Lies that stood out as exemplary. One of these is Mick’s taste in music, which was touched on in a couple of throwaway lines mentioning specific bands and artists. While not critical to the story, the choices used were enough out of the mainstream to fit the character and say a little about him, yet not so obscure that many readers won’t gain insight into Mick, adding more depth to the characterization. (That I approve of Mick’s taste didn’t hurt either.)

The other detail I wanted to mention is Smith’s handling of place. Much of the book takes place in the Twin Cities metro. One of my pet peeves is stories that happen in a real place, where the details of that place don’t fit reality. Often, the details don’t matter, but they do add depth to the story. Smith handles this deftly. The descriptions he gives of different areas are sparse, enough for someone unfamiliar with the real place to paint their own picture, yet enough to evoke the real location for those who are. For example, one scene takes place in an area of Minneapolis known as “Uptown.” Smith’s description is just enough for me to picture this area, yet leaves enough to the imagination for those not familiar with it to use a formerly bohemian and now gentrifying area in a city they are familiar with to fill in the gaps.

If it isn’t clear (and I can’t imagine it isn’t), if you’re into a little darkness in your reading, I think Choke on Your Lies would be a good choice.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Availability
Kindle US:YESUK:YESNook: NO Smashwords: NO Paper: NO Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

McCarty Griffin has two other works available, The Tribe and Monster Story.

Description:

Bobby will soon be Pammy’s ex-husband. Good riddance. When Bobby continues his abusive ways after they’re separated, Pammy realizes she’ll never get him out of her life until his life is over.

Appraisal:

A quick read of novella length, Half-Inch is a story of revenge. Griffin does an excellent job with his characterization, with Bobby, the abusive husband, coming off as someone who is easy to hate, yet not unlike people who actually exist. We also pull for his wife Pammy to find a happy ending. Even the minor characters are well drawn, fleshed out just enough to serve their purpose. The twist ending should be acceptable to most, whether you approve of taking the ultimate revenge or not.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

I find the noted English spellings/slang particularly annoying. Europeans simply deal with Americanisms without making a fuss about them. We don't find it worth mentioning. Why can't Americans do the same?

We received the comment above in our recent survey. It is a reasonable complaint. If I was from the UK, Ireland, Australia, Canada, or any other non-US, English speaking country, I might also find this annoying. Although I’ve explained the rationale for why we highlight this and other items in the past, it has always been in the comments of a specific review, and I thought it might be a good idea to do so in a post.

While I’ll concentrate on language, this post is really about the entire FYI section of our reviews.

On Language

England and America are two countries separated by a common language. – George Bernard Shaw

My initial inclination was to apologize for my compatriots. I’m well aware of the stereotype of the “ugly American,” and know we are sometimes perceived as insular, with a sense of entitlement. I’ve experienced firsthand the greater knowledge that the average Canadian has about the world outside of their country- and even current events in the US- as compared to my peers. I’ve been guilty of some of these faults myself. It would be easy to view this section as more of the same. But none of this is the reason for why our reviews mention this. My main reason for including this is, and always has been, one of education.

To understand this, a brief explanation about how traditional publishing has worked in the US for as long as I’ve been reading might help. When a publisher contracts with an author for a book in English, it is typically for rights to publish and distribute the book in a specific region. While I believe this can vary, the US (or North America) is one of those regions, with Australia, the UK and other English speaking European countries, and potentially Canada as others. US publishers routinely re-edit books from other regions, changing spelling to US conventions and often changing the wording to remove regional slang, generally Americanizing the book. Some people have described the process as akin to a foreign translation.

I won’t even attempt to justify this process. I’m sure the publishers see it as a good marketing move, aimed at satisfying the lowest-common denominator of readers. The result has been that while many, if not most, Americans are familiar with some British and Australian slang, it is almost entirely from TV and movies, and limited. Their exposure to spelling differences between different English speaking countries is often non-existent.

With Indie authors publishing their own books, this regionalization is no longer happening. Personally, I see this as a positive, with the language differences adding character and color, giving a much stronger sense of place. However, for readers who haven’t experienced this before, it is easy to perceive the spelling and sometimes the differences in language usage as being in error. I’ve seen many Amazon reviews complaining about just these kind of things on books that I know are virtually error free, but use Australian or UK spelling conventions.

Educating readers and setting expectations for those who don’t realize there are differences is my primary reason for mentioning this in our reviews. I realize there might be some readers who aren’t willing to buy a book that hasn’t been Americanized for them. While my decision would be different, and I think they are missing out, it is also not my decision to make. Knowing has helped that reader, and helping as many readers as possible is the reason for our reviews, and has benefited the author who might otherwise have an unhappy customer that might give a negative review for a bogus reason.

What language differences are not okay?

As I mention above, I think the language differences add to the character of a book. When one of Vicki Tyley’s characters in Fatal Liaison is looking for a car park or Naomi Kramer’s Maisy May says, “no you can’t have my bloody bag,” it helps put me in Australia. When Helen Smith, in her book Three Sisters, describes coloured lights as “like Midget Gems,” I’ll suspect I’m no longer in Kansas, even if I have no idea what Midget Gems are. (If you’re interested, they are small chewy sweets, or candy to we Yanks.)

When language differences are not okay is when the language doesn’t fit the character. A Brit, fresh off his British Airways flight, asking a New York doorman to point him to the elevator, is going to be suspect to many readers. An American pre-teen girl telling a friend she wishes her “bloody father would sod off,” isn’t going to fly, at least for an American reader, unless she’s watching an episode of Masterpiece Theatre, or both well-traveled and a bit pretentious. Just as subtle differences in language can enhance a book, getting them wrong can detract.

This can present a problem for an author with characters from English speaking countries other than their own. If you’re such an author, the right editor or mix of beta readers might save you from making a significant gaffe.

Let’s Talk about Sex

And politics and religion. These three subjects are hot button issues for many people. Some percentage of readers abandoned reading this post or never started reading it at all because it mentions sex. For those readers who prefer that their romances be sweet or that book characters have sex behind closed doors, we try to let them know if a book isn’t a good fit. For those who like their reading to turn up the heat, we like to clue you in, too. If strong language makes you blush or conversely if you want the characters you read about to be like real people who sometimes use salty language, we want you to know about that too. Just as with language comments, this is to help match readers to books they are more likely to enjoy, based on their unique tastes.

Conclusion

What I want to make clear is that the intention of the FYI section is not to make a value judgment. Not every reader has the same taste. This section is a place to clue potential readers into things that might be a good or bad fit for their personal taste, but are irrelevant to the quality of the book under review.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Availability
Kindle US:YESUK:YESNook:YESSmashwords: NO Paper:YESClick on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

A member of the bar in New York and Colorado, Darlene Cypser practiced law until 1999. She currently splits her time between writing books and producing movies. Cypser is currently producing a movie, based on the Alfred Noyes’ poem The Highwayman, from a screenplay she wrote. An avid fan of Sherlock Holmes, Cypser has two short stories based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional detective, as is this novel. In 1988, Cypser wrote a tax guide for writers based on experiences with her legal clients. She has since used that foundation to publish several other tax guides, targeting the unique tax issues found in several professions. For more, visit the website for the series.

Description:

This is the first of a series of novels based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic detective, Sherlock Holmes, chronicling Holmes’ early life. In this first installment, we’ll see Holmes experience first love and find out about his initial conflict with Professor Moriarty.

Appraisal:

Details of fictional detective Sherlock Holmes’ early life are sketchy in the novels and short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Filling in this gap with stories of what Holmes’ early life might have been has turned into a small cottage industry, with books and even a movie, Barry Levinson’s 1985 film Young Sherlock Holmes. I hesitate to call this fan fiction because, unrestrained by copyright law (the Holmes stories are now in the public domain), authors of these works aren’t limited to passing the stories amongst each other. Those with skill and ambition can aim for a much larger audience. With The Crack in the Lens, we have the first of a series telling the story of Sherlock’s early life as envisioned by one Holmes fan.

It has been forever since I’ve read any of Conan Doyle’s books, but the character of Holmes is ingrained in my memory (as I think it is in many readers, at least of my generation and earlier). Spotting the glimmerings of what Holmes would become in Cypser’s take on his early years was easy, although I expect more avid fans would notice even more. In this installment, Holmes falls in love for the first time and first crosses swords with Professor Moriarty. He learns a lot about human nature and how people present different aspects of themselves to different people. The last is also at the root of a mystery that Holmes attempts to unravel as he uses the just-forming logical deduction skills that will be his stock-in-trade as he grows older.

Although this book has some issues with typos and proofing (roughly one error per the equivalent of ten printed pages), I found it entertaining in spite of this. A must read for the diehard Holmes fan or anyone interested in one take on Holmes’ beginnings.

FYI:

Although I spotted one instance of UK spelling, I believe this was an anomaly. Some of the dialogue uses archaic language that is appropriate for the time and place in which the story is set. I had no problem understanding from context and occasional references to the Kindle dictionary.

Format/Typo Issues:

A large number of typos and other proofing issues. The most common problems I saw were missing words (“I do not why” rather than “I do not know why”), extra words (“said the squire said …”), and the wrong form of a word (“So Sherlock did all that Moriarty ask of him” rather than “asked”).

Disclaimer:

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